A major requirement for ancient people throughout human history has been to endure cold weather, rather than to endure heat.
Accordingly, people first invented heating means and then developed and have used cooling means for a long time since the start of use of the heating means. The developed apparatus, which blows out controlled cool air, was first called an air controlling device, i.e. an air conditioner.
However, the air conditioner in the early stages was just a simple cooler in practice. After that, cooling and heating, performed in summer and winter, respectively, became known as summer air conditioning and winter air conditioning, respectively. However, recently, both the cooling and the heating are together referred to as air conditioning.
Generally, air conditioning is performed for the purpose of creating agreeable conditions for people living or working in houses, hotels, offices, halls, data processing centers, and various job sites by maintaining conditions such as temperature, humidity, sanitation, smell, and airflow in an indoor space so as to be in a state suitable for the use of the indoor space. Air conditions that are agreeable to people depend on various factors such as climate, clothing, the standard of living, and the condition of people's health. Accordingly, agreeable air conditions are not fixed values but are assumed to fall within a temperature in a range from 26° C. to 28° C. and relative humidity of about 50% in summer and a temperature in a range from 20° C. to 22° C. and relative humidity of about 40% in the winter.
However, such values are not fixed values, but vary according to the products produced, processed or tested in spaces such as offices, storehouses, laboratories, or data processing centers, or according to kinds of machines installed in such spaces so that products and machines can satisfactorily perform their own functions.
In a tobacco factory, it is preferable that the factory be maintained at high humidity so that tobacco leaves do not break down into powder due to dryness. On the other hand, it is preferable that low temperature be maintained in a chocolate factory in order to prevent chocolate from melting, otherwise the shapes of the chocolates will collapse. Further, a transistor manufacturing factory must be maintained under a condition of low dust. A physiology clinic or laboratory will be maintained under a condition in which airflow is slow, taking the effect of wind on people's lives into consideration. That is, air conditioning is performed in order to prevent the quality of products from varying or defective products from being produced.
In particular, when air conditioning is applied to industries, for example, to product treatment procedures requiring the condition in which constant temperature and humidity must be maintained, or to product storing procedures, it is necessary to control humidity as well as temperature (cooling and heating). For this purpose, a thermo-hygrostat, which can perform air conditioning, is a device used for maintaining the temperature and humidity of an indoor space at preset levels. The thermo-hygrostat includes a cooler, which supplies cold air, a hot air blower, which supplies hot air, and a humidifier, which maintains the humidity of indoor air. The cooler includes an evaporator, a condenser, a pump, and valves, and cold air is generated by the evaporator by forming a cooling cycle. The hot air blower supplies hot air, generated by a hot wire, into the indoor space. The humidifier evaporates water using a heat pipe dipped in water, or generates vapor by heating water by electrical conduction using the electrical conductivity of water, thereby adjusting the humidity in the indoor space.
The known thermo-hygrostat is a device used for maintaining the temperature and the humidity at a preset constant level, and is generally installed and used in a room (indoor space) in which high precision controllers or expensive communication machines, which are very sensitive to fluctuations in temperature and humidity, are installed, or in various spaces such as laboratories or data processing centers, thereby preventing various machines from malfunctioning and enabling such machines to stably perform their own functions.
The known thermo-hygrostat employs a controller (called a hot gas controller), parts needed for performing cooling and heating, and parts needed for performing de-humidifying and humidifying, and those elements are integrated into a single system. The thermo-hygrostat is structured in a manner such that cooling, heating, dehumidifying, and humidifying operations are automatically performed by a controller when the temperature or humidity of the room falls outside of the error range of the preset temperature or the preset humidity by detecting the temperature and the humidity in the room using the controller.
For most known thermo-hygrostats, the evaporator, which absorbs heat, is installed in an indoor space so as to be in contact with sucked air, and the compressor, compressing refrigerant, and the condenser, emitting the absorbed heat, are installed in an outdoor space. Accordingly, it is difficult to install the thermo-hygrostat in some instances. Further, an installation space must be provided on the outer wall of a building in order to install outdoor units and refrigerant pipes and to enable the power line connection work to be done. Accordingly, high costs are incurred. Still further, there is the probability of a fire occurring due to the work of welding the refrigerant pipes. Yet further, antifreeze is used to prevent the refrigerant pipes from rupturing in cold weather, which results in environmental pollution.
In order to solve such problems, the applicant of the present application has invented a variety of types of improved thermo-hygrostats, including an integrated thermo-hygrostat (Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-193266), in which both a compressor, which compresses refrigerant and is typically an indoor unit, and parts such as a condenser emitting heat, which are typically outdoor units, are installed in a single main body, and various modifications thereof, such as Korean Utility Model Registration Nos. 20-359675 and 20-259280, and Korean Patent Nos. 10-414030 and 10-538455.
The integrated thermo-hygrostats are advantageous over the known thermo-hygrostat in that they are easy to install and it is possible to save installation costs incurred to install the outdoor units, to decrease installation time, to minimize maintenance fees, to prevent fires from occurring thanks to the obviation of the requirement to weld refrigerant pipes, to eliminate the risk of rupture of the refrigerant pipes because a water refrigerant pipe is not used, and to prevent air pollution attributable to the use of antifreeze.
Among the known integrated thermo-hygrostats, the integrated thermo-hygrostat disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-193266 has a structure in which an outdoor air damper is provided to a barrier, which divides the space of the main body into an inner portion and an outer portion in order to control the flow of outdoor air introduced into the outer portion. Thanks to this structure, the cooling of an indoor space can be performed using only the outdoor air in winter and thus it is possible to reduce the cooling load and to decrease power consumption compared to a device that performs a cooling operation using only a cooling system.
This thermo-hygrostat has a structure in which the outdoor air damper, which can control the flow of the outdoor air introduced into the outer portion of the main body, is provided to the barrier, which simply divides the inside space of the main body into the inner portion and the outer portion, and the outdoor air is forcibly introduced into the indoor space in winter. Accordingly, some of the indoor air passes through a grill disposed in front of the condenser and is returned to the indoor space along with the outdoor air when a fan is driven and the outdoor air damper is opened. At this time, the indoor air, having passed through the grill, is mixed with the outdoor air, having passed through the outdoor air damper, and is then forcibly introduced into the indoor space.
That is, the thermo-hygrostat, having a structure in which the outdoor air damper, which controls the flow of the outdoor air, is provided to the barrier, which divides the inner space of the main body into the inner portion and the outer portion, is not provided with any means to control the flow of the indoor air introduced into the inner portion of the main body. Accordingly, when the outdoor air damper is opened and the fan is driven in order to cool the indoor air using the outdoor air (natural air), which has a temperature equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature, some of the indoor air, which has a higher temperature than the outdoor air, is introduced into the inner portion of the main body through the grill provided to the front portion of the condenser, mixed with the outdoor air passed through the outdoor air damper, and then forcibly sent to the indoor space. Thus, the air that is introduced into the indoor space in practice has a higher temperature than the outdoor air, thus decreasing cooling efficiency. For this reason, if the temperature of the indoor space is not lowered to the intended temperature even when the cooling is performed by forcibly sucking the outdoor air, the cooler part of the thermo-hygrostat must intermittently and repeatedly operate in order to lower the temperature of the indoor space to the intended temperature. In this case, there is a problem in that the cooling load and power consumption are not greatly reduced. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem
The present invention has been devised in view of the various problems described above, and an object of the invention is to provide an integrated thermo-hygrostat having a structure in which a compressor, which is a general indoor unit known in the art and compresses refrigerant, and machines, such as a condenser emitting heat, which are general outdoor units known in the art, are installed in a single main body, and in which an indoor air control damper, which controls the flow of indoor air, and an outdoor air control damper, which controls the flow of outdoor air, are separately installed in front of an evaporator, into which the indoor air is introduced, and on a barrier, which divides the inside space of the main body into an inner portion and an outer portion, respectively. Thanks to this structure, the air cooling device operates in a manner such that, when the indoor air control damper is opened but the outdoor air control damper is closed, the outdoor air cools the condenser and is then discharged outside and the indoor air is cooled by the evaporator and is then blown into the indoor space when the temperatures of the indoor air and the outdoor air are equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, such as during summer, when a cooling operation needs to be performed. Conversely, the air cooling device operates in a manner such that, when the indoor air control damper is closed, the operation of the cooling function of the thermo-hygrostat is suspended, and the outdoor air control damper is opened, fresh outdoor air having a temperature lower than the predetermined temperature is directly introduced into the indoor space after being filtered by passing through filters so that the indoor air is cooled by natural air cooling when the temperature of the outdoor air is lower than the predetermined temperature, such as in winter. Thus, the air cooling device is advantageous in that it is possible to rapidly decrease the temperature of the indoor air to the intended temperature and prevent power from being unnecessarily consumed. That is, it is possible to achieve a power-saving effect because it is possible to cool the indoor air using outdoor air (natural air) having a temperature equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature without driving a cooling part of a thermo-stat. Technical Solution
In order to accomplish such objects, there is provided an air cooling device of an integrated thermo-hygrostat having a main body divided into an inner portion and an outer portion by a vertical barrier, in which a compressor, compressing refrigerant, a condenser, connected to the compressor, and an air exhaust fan are installed in the outer portion, and an air filter, an expansion valve, an evaporator, a heater, a humidifier, a liquid heat exchanger, a double-pipe condenser, a refrigerant dryer, an indoor air control damper, and a fan are installed in the inner portion, in which an indoor air control damper is installed in front of the evaporator, which can control the flow of indoor air, thereby preventing some of the indoor air from being mixed with outdoor air when an indoor space having a high temperature is cooled using cold outdoor air in the winter.
In the air cooling device of a thermo-hygrostat, it is preferable that the outdoor air control damper and the indoor air control damper operate in a manner such that the indoor air control damper is opened but the outdoor air control damper is closed when the temperatures of the indoor air and the outdoor air are equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, such as during summer, when the cooling function of the device is performed. In such a case, the outdoor air cools down the condenser and is then discharged out of the main body, and the indoor air is cooled by the evaporator and is then sent to the indoor space.
In the air cooling device of a thermo-hygrostat, it is preferable that, when the temperature of the outdoor air is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature, such as in winter, the indoor air control damper be closed, the operation of the cooling function be suspended, and the outdoor air control damper be opened. Thus, the fresh outdoor air having a temperature equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature is directly introduced into the indoor space after being filtered by a filter using the fan. That is, natural air cooling is performed.
In the air cooling device of a thermo-hygrostat, it is preferable that, in the middle of performing a heating function of the device in winter mode, during which the indoor air control damper is closed, the outdoor air control damper is opened, and heating is performed using the air introduced from the outside, if the temperature of the indoor space is increased to the predetermined temperature, the indoor air control damper be opened, the outdoor air control damper be closed, and the cooling function be performed, as in summer mode. The winter mode and the summer mode are alternately performed.
In the air cooling device of a thermo-hygrostat, it is preferable that the indoor air control damper include a rectangular frame, front and back sides of which are open, a plurality of wings disposed inside the rectangular frame at regular intervals and pivotably coupled to the rectangular frame at both ends thereof by shafts, a servomotor having a body fixed to the front surface of the inner portion of the main body and a shaft coupled to the shaft pivotably supporting any one of the wings and generating driving force needed to open and close the wings by a rotary motion thereof in forward and backward directions, and a plurality of links arranged in one step or in two steps, between the shafts pivotably supporting the corresponding wings and a bar, in which, when the servo-motor is driven in the state in which free ends of the links, arranged in one step or two steps, are pivotably coupled to each other and supported by shafts, the shafts of the wings, which are coupled to the links, rotate in response to the driving direction of the servo-motor and thus the corresponding links coupled to the shafts of the corresponding wings, which are rotated, at their first ends, rotate, which causes upward or downward linear motion of adjacent links and thus causes the links connected to different wings to rotate in an opening direction or a closing direction.
In the air cooling device of a thermo-hygrostat, it is preferable that, when connecting the shafts of the wings to the bar using the links installed in one step or two steps, the free ends of two links, adjacent to each other, be pivotably coupled to one spot of the bar by a shaft, and thus the wings, adjacent to each other, rotate in opposite directions when the wings are opened and closed in response to the driving direction of the servo-motor.
In the air cooling device of a thermo-hygrostat, it is preferable that each of upper and lower ends of the wings be provided with a sealing rubber bar.